I wanted to write about the unsettling times we find ourselves in
and then there was that date,
September 11, 2021
staring me in the eye.
In 2001, almost a week after that horrible day,
I was on a sailboat in Provincetown Harbor
and witnessed the most magnificent sunset
caused by the dust in the air all the way from
New York City to Cape Cod,
from that terrible tragedy at the World Trade Center Towers.
I lived in Provincetown at the time and my friend invited me out on the water.
Planes were still grounded and it was eerily quiet and peaceful, calm and beautiful.
We talked about how the U.S. behaved in the world
and how that created more enemies than friends.
The Country stood still for a while -
collective grief - shock - compassion - empathy.
And you know the rest of the story.
They said,
"Get on with your lives." "Go shopping."
We'll start a war or two and make it right.
A primitive response lacking insight, intelligence, even compassion for the victims.
It's not what their families wanted.
It wasn't misguided -
it was exactly what some people wanted.
Will America ever be the Beacon of Democracy she promised to be?
Not like that.
Not like that.
©Laine Quinn 2021, photo September 17th, 2001.